Hockey, usually associated with cold winters, has grown in popularity in the sunshine state despite the University of Florida team not even having an ice rink.
Unexpectedly, Florida has been a key player in this growth.
The state’s hockey scene has been rapidly growing in popularity despite the area’s reputation for its sunny beaches and lack of a “true winter.” From the Panthers’ Stanley Cup victory to a more local triumph with the University of Florida’s Division II team’s national championship win last year, UF’s stance on the sport remains on thin ice.
The school’s DII team recently moved up to play at a Division I level, yet remains unsponsored by the NCAA, the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Along with the now DI team, UF houses a Division III team as well as a women’s team.
After about a month since the start of the season, UF’s ice hockey teams have already secured some wins and overcome a few losses. Dylan Morton, the captain and president of the Division III team speaks on how his team plans to power through the 2025-2026 season. Morton takes the opportunity to discuss the players’ struggles and victories across teams. Despite having an operational budget of $150,000 a year, the team has been gaining popularity and performing well.
Morton, like all the executive board members, are directly involved with the club’s scheduling, financing and more as they operate with a “for the players, by the players” identity.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Q: Could you please introduce yourself and give some background on how you got into hockey?
A: Yeah so, my name’s Dylan Morton. I'm a senior at the University of Florida, and I'm also the president and captain of the UF ACDC hockey team. I got into hockey probably about 11 years ago. One of my friends asked me to come out to the rink one day, and, you know, unfortunately, a few $1000 later, I'm where I'm at now. But, it's one of the best experiences of my life. The training, the community, everything about it has just made me who I am today, and I'm thankful to be able to give back to not only this team, but the larger hockey community in general.
Q: Why do you think that not many people are aware about the hockey club existing?
A: I think the biggest reason is, first of all, people aren't really looking for it, being in Florida. Two, our rink is in Jacksonville. So going to practice and all of our home games are at least an hour and 20 minutes away. So, it's not like we have a huge home crowd that we can come rally or put out promotional stuff around Gainesville for them to come to our games. It's not realistic for people to go drive that far to see us. So, I think those two are probably the biggest reasons, but I mean, on top of that , we've kind of blown up in recent years. I will say, I think the national [win] brought a lot of attention to our program. And our social media, I think, together, between us, the D2 team and the women's team, we're sitting around 20-21,000 followers on Instagram. So I think a lot of people are starting to wake up to us. Hopefully they are. Our jersey sales are pretty much everywhere. We have a lot of celebrities wearing them as well that are coming to UF. A lot of football players are reaching out to buy them. So, I think we're growing and we're moving in the right direction. And hopefully that trend continues. You know, to people who don't know about us yet, come find out.
Q: How do you guys perform so well without having a rink here in Gainesville? Is it difficult to go to the nearest rinks being in Jacksonville or Tampa?
A: Yeah, we have practice once a week. I mean, that's really our main time to kind of focus and hone in on everything. So we have a fantastic team of coaches that work with us and really try to get us in the right physical condition. Obviously, a lot of us are doing work at Southwest Rec or on campus or running or whatever else. But you know, our coach, Steve Kay, he's a retired ex-professional player, so he's brought all of that insight to our program. He's just, he's on the same page, right? He wants it just as much as everyone else and I think that kind of drives everything for everyone. So, if it's a choice of going out on the weekend or playing hockey, a lot of our guys hopefully make the right decision.
Q: Hockey is gaining popularity, especially in south Florida with the Panthers’ [2024 and 2025] Stanley cup wins. Do you think this boost can eventually push for UF to have an official team?
A: I've spoken with a lot of people in the hockey community, specifically in North Florida. And what they're really modeling everything off of is how Arizona got their team. The way that they learn development, the way that they progress players through and the way that the university eventually got their team, as well. So, I think that the plan, the foundation is there, especially in South Florida. I hope UF kind of wakes up to that and realizes that this is a very real possibility that, if we do it, Georgia might do it, South Carolina might do it [too]. All these are huge top club teams that are already proving that hockey is very successful. So hopefully, there's more to come with this kind of push, especially with the Panthers and all these other teams blowing up. It's waiting to happen, I feel like.
Q: Do you think the construction of an ice rink here in Gainesville would help the team’s performance?
A: Absolutely. I genuinely don't know why they haven’t built one yet. To me, it seems like such a no-brainer, right? I think there were plans for one. It got turned into a massive pickleball arena. And you know, to me, from our side of things, we'd be able to practice more than once a week. We're students at the end of the day. So we have guys studying for their test that they're taking in the car on the way to practice. So doing that more than once a week really just isn't feasible. Having that rink that close would allow us so much more flexibility and scheduling and doing everything possible. And then having the facilities there on top of the rink. So a gym, a nice restaurant, everything to be involved and ingrained in that community would be great. And then talk about the junior youth teams and the men's league teams that you get out of there and profit. And then talk about all the fans that could go, right? Friday night games are our bread and butter. So, go to our game Friday, and then literally just walk straight to the bars after, that would be the ideal model, but, I think… I hope people are starting to see that that is a very, very realistic thing that should happen. So, if anyone's listening.
Q: What if anything, do you want to tell those reading this or listening to this interview that we haven’t yet discussed about the Hockey club?
A: If you're a UF student, we're looking for involvement. We're looking for engagement. You don't have to know a thing about hockey to be a part of our club. We have a team of interns that, I think we're at about 20 right now, that are between video and pictures and graphic design, running the Instagrams. We’re nothing without a team of specialists to get our job done. So all the people that are listening to this, that might not be at UF and are considering it, that play hockey, I mean, it's the best thing you can do. You know a lot of our guys are in frats as well. A lot of our guys are doing high level engineering stuff. A few of our guys are starting businesses while they're in their time at UF. So, if you don't think you have time, I'm pretty sure you can carve it out. There's nothing better than being in that environment and there's nothing that I'm going to miss more than having this community and really being in my last year of competitive hockey. So, when you're making a decision to keep playing or hang them up, play for as long as you can.